EDMONTON - Rod in the round at Rexall rules!

You can get off the hook for using such cheesy alliteration when you are in fact referring to a concert as good as Rod Stewart's sold-out show at Rexall Place last night. It's funny to think that just hours before the show I was taking potshots at Stewart's infamous hair (oh, come on; who hasn't?) By the end, however, it was pure admiration for "the Rodfather," an honest to gosh rock star.

Walking around the arena concourse on the way in, the sound of the Edmonton and District Bag Pipes filled the air, honouring the 62-year-old London-born Scottish rock 'n' roll legend.

And peering through every entrance to the seats, all you could see was an enormous tartan column, a drape hiding the main stage, directly over centre ice.

A mock movie trailer for the story of Stewart's life, The Rodfather, played once the lights dimmed. It was filled with high tension, recalling the difficult decision Stewart once faced, choosing between soccer and singing, kicking ball or kicking ass. And told of how he has persevered while boy bands have littered the boulevard of broken dreams.

Once the drape lifted, it revealed the coolest of stage setups: a circular stage in the round, with two outer walkway rings that had to make people who shelled out for floor seats grateful, knowing they were worth every penny.

His smartly dressed band of two drummers, two keyboardists, sax, three-piece rhythm section, banjo, fiddle, steel guitar, three female backup singers (and then some) looked torn from the heydays of American Bandstand.

If they sold a Rod Stewart band set of action figures, complete with stage, I'd buy one.

Stewart emerged out of the stage's centre dais, which sported the logo for his club, Celtic FC, and kicked the night off nicely with Tonight I'm Yours.

The man knows how to make an entrance and the charm never let up.

The moments came fast and furious, too.

More upbeat were big bass line disco numbers like Infatuation and Losing You, when Stewart let his drummers wage war in a fierce, thumping display of tribalism. Pretty high-energy fare for a supposed golden oldie.

But Stewart looks good, fit. He was certainly happy and appreciative of the response. They liked him, too, despite a case of the sniffles.

"You'll have to forgive me," he said. "I have a cold, so I may miss a few notes on this next one."

He blew his nose and cast the tissue off onstage. In the split-second pause before he launched into Have I Told You, a woman in the crowd could be heard yelling out: "I want that Kleenex!"

Classic.

And Stewart did sound great, but then he's got a certain advantage, too. A gravelly voice can never really go bad, can it? But Stewart did have surgery for thyroid cancer in 2000 and he basically had to relearn how to sing.

Even if he had lost a step, the audience filled in the blanks, singing along loud and clear to back catalogue classics like Hot Legs, This Old Heart of Mine and Rhythm of My Heart.

There were also faithful covers of Janis Joplin's Piece of My Heart, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen the Rain? and a song Stewart says he's waited 30 years to record, Bonnie Tyler's It's a Heartache.

"And moving from the sublime to the ridiculous ..." he said, quickly launching into his disco monster, Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? At least Stewart recognizes the cheesy tune's place in his legacy. It still sounded great, though.

For the last few years, Stewart's career has revolved around covering some of his all-time favourite tunes, but last night he delivered with a set of classics everyone wanted.

And if your toes weren't tapping to Young Turks, you, my friend, are a corpse.

It's been a topsy turvy week of pop icons in Edmonton, from the lofty highs of Van Morrison to the hammy camp of Meat Loaf and back on up again with Rod Stewart, who made Tonight's the Night, last night at least, one to remember.